An LED is used as lighting means or display means that replaces an existing electric bulb because it have some advantages in that the size is small, consumption power versus brightness is high, lifespan is long, and a manufacturing cost is low.
An LED may be classified into an infrared LED that emits infrared rays, a visible ray LED that emits a visible ray, and an ultraviolet (UV) LED that emits ultraviolet rays depending on emission characteristics. After an UV LED was revealed to be effective in removing bacteria having DNA or RNA, the UV LED is used as a high-efficiency sterilization device which is cheap and easily used in various fields.
For example, some UV LEDs are installed in the interior of products, such as a home refrigerator, a warehouse refrigerator, a refrigerator mounted on a vehicle, a gimchi refrigerator, a cup sterilizer, and a shoes deodorizer, and used as sterilization devices for removing bacteria and smell. An example of a product which uses a conventional UV LED is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2010-0001915.
However, the product using the conventional UV LED is disadvantageous in that volume within the product is reduced because the product must be designed to provide an additional space within the product in order to install the UV LED.
Furthermore, a sterilization device using a UV LED requires additional electrical and electronic devices in order to configure an internal circuit for the sterilization device because the sterilization device is formed of an additional module. In such a case, a sterilization device using a conventional UV LED has a disadvantage in that volume within the sterilization device is reduced because an additional space on which electrical and electronic devices are mounted needs to be provided.
Furthermore, a sterilization device using a conventional UV LED has a disadvantage in that UV sterilization efficiency is deteriorated because a component that deteriorates UV light transmittance is added between a UV light source and a subject for photography in order to protect the UV light source or improve an external appearance of the sterilization device.